The Race, New Names, Strange Bedfellows

It seems to be a quiet day in and around the political blogging world. Oh, you can find the usual vote counts for yesterday, and the usual punditry regarding those numbers. I had thought this election essentially over lets say after Iowa, and I've vacillated between elation and depression in mild forms as Obama or Clinton surged, leveled off and did it again. And you can look around today, and see varying claims of analysis and various calls to unite behind either Obama or Clinton, although clearly in the blog world, Obama holds sway. I'm just not going to try to over-analyse this one. Much depends as I see it on whether Obama can keep up this momentum and whether the March primaries which favor Clinton will turn the tide or be too late to matter.

Almost everyone now sees this race going past March. Whether the super delegates will be the major deciders or not is any one's guess. Now that may not be a bad thing if the super delegates actually go along with the popular vote. That vote favors Clinton at the moment as I recall by about 800,000 votes. That will undoubtedly narrow through February. If the super delegates decide against the popular vote, then I foresee trouble. People will undoubtedly feel cheated. I hope Howard Dean is up to the task of managing this growing cyst. And then, of course we now have the possibility of Michigan and Florida coming back into play.

Mostly I just hope that this does not fracture the party. And I doubt it will, simply because most people who are for Hillary or Barack are not against the other one. So in the end, I think people are going to be fairly satisfied either way.


I found one thing odd this morning on George Stephanopolis's show. Sam Donaldson stated what no one seemed willing to say. Why is Obama not doing well among the working class in America? The reason as I see it is simple. Racism is still with us, and Sam Donaldson said it, and Donna Brazil looked at him and turned her head away without reply. He is right I believe, and she chooses to ignore it, perhaps because its not the message she, a party player, wants to portray. I do not however, think it a big enough problem to determine an election. And least I hope it is not.
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Meanwhile on the international front, Putin continues to talk loudly about "western pursuit of a new arms race." I am finding this hard to swallow for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that the arms race was motivated by a dangerous USSR. Unless Putin is now claiming that Russia is returning to a dangerous place, his argument makes no sense. Therefore his push for bigger and better weapons for Russia is based on his own desire to take Russia in a new direction from the one She had barely begun to travel down. Read Common Dreams reprint of a UK report.


The Daily Kos has an interesting diary post about conservatism and the need to redefine it. The attitudes of what used to be neo-cons, needs to be undated to a new label. Conservative is not what these folks are about. Dan calls it "authoritarianism." Read his post and see if you agree. The Reality Based Community I think prefers to call it Monarchism.

John Deeth has a very interesting post, but I'm not sure I agree with him. He basically agrees that MSNBC's David Shuster was rightly criticized for his "pimping" comment. Yet Deeth argues that Chelsea appears to want it both ways--she wants to campaign but not be the subject of press inquiry. And he claims that is unfair. I'm not so sure. The Clintons are the first family of America in a sense. Chelsea's campaign statements are one thing, her personal opinions are another. Certainly the press has no particular interest in questioning her about her mother's health care plan. They want to know, as Deeth admits, what she thinks about her parents. I'm not sure that that is relevant. Read his post and see what you think.

Well this is a reprint, but Dave Berry is always a good diversion. This is not about anything but animals and humans, and should be saved for last! But if I have to keep looking at the first page of the Miami Herald and see that it's 74 degrees there while it still below F'king below 0 here, I may not go back until summer!

Sadly No! continues to have the best coverage of the CPAC fun and games. Read Chapter 13 today, and chuckle away. The take on John Bolton is down right sidesplitting, at least to me. Scroll down to the February 9 post.

People who know, claim that John McCain's biggest liability is his appalling lack of knowledge about the economy. And we all know of course the problems that conservatives have with him. His strength, national defense is not something that Democrats need worry about I would argue, because it is so scary as to be a liability to him in my humblest opinion. He is as Glenn Greenwald points out, the kind of national security advocate along the lines of Bill Kristol and John Bolton. Who wants that?

By all accounts, John McCain is getting a bit ticked at Huckabee's continuing in the race at this point. Some have argued that Huck is trying to force the issue of his VPiness. Yet those who do face those who say that such a conclusion means you really don't understand John McCain. They say McCain will never cave to pressure of that sort. I would welcome it of course, cuz Huckie is such a mouthwatering target. And since this kind of thing can quickly get quite embarrassing for the heir apparent, I wouldn't think McCain and Huck's "friendship" can withstand this type of strain. Josh Marshall at TPM weighs in.

The Huffington Post has a bunch of good articles today, but the best of them is undoubtedly this little gem. Seems our John McCain wishes to make nice with his newest contributor, Karl Rove. I mean isn't there a time when you say to hell with being nice and politically correct and just say the guy is a scum bag and I want no truck with him or his money? It's just this sort of thing that makes McCain the worst sort of political opportunist.

Who is Elizabeth Blackwell you ask? Well she was born in the UK and came to America at age 11. She was born in 1821 and died in 1910. She spent time in Paris and worked as a midwife. She was treated badly in America and finally left for good in 1869. She set up a couple of important establishments in NYC before she left. Read about her at Women of History. She is known for a first. Do you know?


Enjoy your Sunday folks.